Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs or “drones”) as we know them have only been around for about 15 years, but like so many things in modern culture, they may have ancient ancestors. Best known for their controversial military uses, drones also have many peaceful, civilian applications, from sweeping aerial shots for films to dropping off your packaged instant gratification. But the oldest aerial drone or robot might just be the steam-powered pigeon of Archytas. In the 5th century BCE, the Greek polymath Archytas invented a self-propelled, pigeon-shaped flying machine. Assuming his design worked, it may have flown several hundred meters, powered by a jet of steam or compressed air from an internal bladder. Archytas may have been most interested in testing theories of aerodynamics, rather than spying on the Spartans, and his wooden robot bird is a far cry from the hovering, high-tech drones of today, but I’m droning on…and this history is for the birds anyway.
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